When the local grocery store had pork loin on sale for $1.88 per pound, I snatched up four huge loins.  I used this as an opportunity to stock pile some pork in my basement grocery store.

Canning pork loin can be done one of two ways.  My sister uses the “Cold Pack Method” and I use the “Parboil Method”.  They both work, they both produce a nice product.  The biggest difference between the two is the Parboil Method takes a little longer to boil the meat before you pack it into the jars.  To me it’s worth the extra 10-15 minutes to keep the proteins in the meat and not stuck to the inside of the jars.  Canning meat can leave a messy jar clean up later down the road, but parboiling helps with that a little bit.  I still prefer to use wide mouth jars just for easier clean up.

The jar on the left was Parboiled, the one on the right Cold Packed. See the difference in the jars??

Trim as much fat as possible off of the meat and cut up the pork into chunks.

Put the pork in a large stock pot with boiling water and parboil it until the scum floats to the top.  Skim the scum off.

Once boiling, boil for 10 minutes.  Ladle the hot meat into hot, sterile jars using a slotted spoon.  Approximately, 1 pound will fit in a pint jar, 2 pounds per quart, so can it according to your family size.  I have growing boys, so we use a lot of quarts.  Add 1 teaspoon of canning salt to each quart jar. Pour hot stock from parboiling or boiling water over the meat leaving 1 inch of head space.

Remove all the air bubbles using a plastic knife to keep from damaging the jars.

Pressure can pints 75 minutes and quarts 90 minutes on 10 lbs of pressure.  (Adjust the pounds of pressure to your elevation.)

Now it’s time to enjoy!  Pork tenderloin for dinner anyone?  How about carnitas….or better yet – pulled pork barbecue!  The options are endless…..